diff --git a/globals.c b/globals.c
index 197139a8..632f8d38 100644
--- a/globals.c
+++ b/globals.c
@@ -202,13 +202,6 @@ xmlPosixStrdup(const char *cur) {
 xmlStrdupFunc xmlMemStrdup = xmlPosixStrdup;
 #endif /* DEBUG_MEMORY_LOCATION */
 
-/**
- * xmlParserVersion:
- *
- * Constant string describing the internal version of the library
- */
-const char *xmlParserVersion = LIBXML_VERSION_STRING LIBXML_VERSION_EXTRA;
-
 /**
  * xmlBufferAllocScheme:
  *
@@ -747,7 +740,6 @@ xmlInitGlobalState(xmlGlobalStatePtr gs) {
     gs->gs_xmlLineNumbersDefaultValue = xmlLineNumbersDefaultValueThrDef;
     gs->gs_xmlLoadExtDtdDefaultValue = xmlLoadExtDtdDefaultValueThrDef;
     gs->gs_xmlParserDebugEntities = xmlParserDebugEntitiesThrDef;
-    gs->gs_xmlParserVersion = LIBXML_VERSION_STRING;
     gs->gs_xmlPedanticParserDefaultValue = xmlPedanticParserDefaultValueThrDef;
     gs->gs_xmlSaveNoEmptyTags = xmlSaveNoEmptyTagsThrDef;
     gs->gs_xmlSubstituteEntitiesDefaultValue =
@@ -1144,5 +1136,12 @@ xmlThrDefOutputBufferCreateFilenameDefault(xmlOutputBufferCreateFilenameFunc fun
   #define XML_OP XML_DEFINE_GLOBAL_WRAPPER
   XML_GLOBALS
   #undef XML_OP
+
+  /* For backward compatibility */
+
+  const char *const *
+  __xmlParserVersion(void) {
+    return &xmlParserVersion;
+  }
 #endif
 
diff --git a/include/libxml/globals.h b/include/libxml/globals.h
index 3ce276dc..6cae3de2 100644
--- a/include/libxml/globals.h
+++ b/include/libxml/globals.h
@@ -90,7 +90,6 @@ xmlDllMain(void *hinstDLL, unsigned long fdwReason,
 #define XML_EMPTY
 
 #define XML_GLOBALS_CORE \
-  XML_OP(xmlParserVersion, const char *, XML_EMPTY) \
   /* error handling */ \
   XML_OP(xmlLastError, xmlError, XML_DEPRECATED) \
   XML_OP(xmlGenericError, xmlGenericErrorFunc, XML_EMPTY) \
@@ -197,7 +196,6 @@ XML_GLOBALS
     XML_GLOBAL_MACRO(xmlLineNumbersDefaultValue)
   #define xmlLoadExtDtdDefaultValue XML_GLOBAL_MACRO(xmlLoadExtDtdDefaultValue)
   #define xmlParserDebugEntities XML_GLOBAL_MACRO(xmlParserDebugEntities)
-  #define xmlParserVersion XML_GLOBAL_MACRO(xmlParserVersion)
   #define xmlPedanticParserDefaultValue \
     XML_GLOBAL_MACRO(xmlPedanticParserDefaultValue)
   #define xmlSaveNoEmptyTags XML_GLOBAL_MACRO(xmlSaveNoEmptyTags)
diff --git a/include/libxml/parser.h b/include/libxml/parser.h
index 2b03fd40..0ddec250 100644
--- a/include/libxml/parser.h
+++ b/include/libxml/parser.h
@@ -805,6 +805,17 @@ typedef xmlParserInputPtr (*xmlExternalEntityLoader) (const char *URL,
 					 const char *ID,
 					 xmlParserCtxtPtr context);
 
+/*
+ * Variables
+ */
+
+XMLPUBVAR const char *const
+xmlParserVersion;
+#ifdef LIBXML_THREAD_ENABLED
+XMLPUBFUN const char *const *
+__xmlParserVersion(void);
+#endif
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif
diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index ac9fe5c4..cce84f27 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -145,6 +145,14 @@ unsigned int xmlParserMaxDepth = 256;
  */
 #define XML_PARSER_CHUNK_SIZE 100
 
+/**
+ * xmlParserVersion:
+ *
+ * Constant string describing the internal version of the library
+ */
+const char *const
+xmlParserVersion = LIBXML_VERSION_STRING LIBXML_VERSION_EXTRA;
+
 /*
  * List of XML prefixed PI allowed by W3C specs
  */